Search - Morton Feldman :: Morton Feldman: Patterns in a Chromatic Field

Feldman's most comical composition

R. Hutchinson | a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds | 03/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"None of the reviewers of this piece so far have mentioned what to me is one of its most salient characteristics -- its sense of humor. The dry title doesn't give any clue: perhaps PATTERNS IN A CHROMATIC FIELD TO PERFORM WHILE WAITING FOR GODOT would convey the mood more accurately. It makes me laugh, and laughing is good!



PATTERNS, from 1981, is unlike any other Feldman work, but definitely more like the "still-life" compositions (Cello & Orchestra, Piano & Orchestra, Flute & Orchestra, etc -- see my review of the 2-disc set on CPO), mainly from the 1970s, than like his later "Persian rug" music. PATTERNS is full of startling juxtapositions. The cello and piano play one little pattern after another, often utterly different in style and tone, including wild glissandos, plucking, and other techniques, with abrupt transitions from one to the next. It is not slow, quiet or repetitive as are the celebrated late works that would follow.



The first recording of PATTERNS on hatART is over 100 minutes long, on two discs, fully 1/4 again as long as this Tzadik recording. Based on my experience with FOR SAMUEL BECKETT (1987 -- see my review of the Kairos recording), I am confident that this faster version is preferable. This is great Feldman all the way around -- one of his best, most dynamic and variegated compositions, superbly performed and recorded.



Here's a revealing quote from the liner notes, from Feldman's ESSAYS (1985):



"The abstract, or rather the Abstract Experience, is only one thing -- a unity that leaves one perpetually speculating... The Abstract Experience is a metaphor without an answer. Whereas the literary kind of art, the kind we are close to, is involved in the polemic we associate with religion, the Abstract Experience is really far closer to the religious. It deals with the same mystery -- reality -- whatever you choose to call it."



See my MORTON FELDMAN: A LISTENER'S GUIDE list for more recordings and reviews."